Edited by Nicola Carbonara
Magical traditions, suggestions that become not simply design objects but evocations, memories, suggestions. Could this suffice to tell the brand Piece of Venice, the Veneto-based company awarded the Compasso d'Oro 2020 in the category "Design for the Social for originality, functional and typological innovation and materials used, which creates small masterpieces with real salvaged wood from Venice such as piers, gangways and poles marking the navigable canals (the famous briccole). And it is back in the news with a special Limited Edition of 9 sets of stools and tables by the name Campo San Barnaba.
The tables are inspired by the exceptional work of thearchitect Edward Gellnerwhile the stools are a faithful reproduction of his designs: the only exception is the material, in this case it is used oak wood of Venetian briccola recovered after years of being immersed in the waters of Venice. The name of the collection was chosen to pay homage to the years spent in Venice by architect Edoardo Gellner, who studied architecture at the IUAV and lived in a palazzina in Campo San Barnaba, a magical place in the centre of Sestiere of Dorsoduro. His bedroom faced the canal and thus, presumably, above the 'sotto-portego' and also looked at the façade of the church of the same name, whose circular rose window may recall the shape of the stool. And it was only in the late 1950s and early 1960s that these stools saw the light of day, as they were made for the Borca di Cadore colony (Eni's Residential Village wanted by Enrico Mattei). The three-legged coffee table, on the other hand, was designed by Michele Merlo - who now runs the Gellner studio - and is inspired by a series of tables that Edoardo Gellner made in the 1950s when he worked with carpenters in Cortina and, in particular, is based on a small table with a removable top (covered in parchment) that he exhibited at the 1951 triennial. This has a removable top that can be reversed to be completely flat or with a profile for use as a tray.
